Ok, even the possibility of my stories being available on Simily for free (you get 4 free reads before you have to pay) is enough for Amazon to flag them. So, I pulled every single one of my short stories that were on Simily off of Amazon and I’ll be setting up an ebook shop page on this site. I’ll be offering my short stories in multiple formats; including .mobi – the file type for Kindles. This will give people a chance to support me directly rather than going through any vendor but you can go to Barnes and Noble or Kobo if you want. If you go to my website, there are even more options. Just click on the Books2Read link to see all available retailers.
For now the Amazon links are still up on my website but I’ll be taking them down once I have the store set up. My longer works will still be available on Amazon since Simily only takes short work. You may ask why I’d ditch such a large retailer but Amazon is a terrible company that abuses it’s workers, dodges taxes, and has a history of stealing ideas to make a cheaper version to undersell the original creator. Not only that, but my last payment from Simily for just the last couple weeks was ten times as high as what I got from Amazon; which was literal pennies. They won’t miss me and I won’t miss them.
I won’t judge anyone who shops there. This is a stance I’m taking because I have the privilege to take it. Just like with Walmart, I have my stance and choose not to spend my money there because I have options. If you still shop at Amazon, that’s fine and is why I will be making the .mobi files available to people who have Kindle readers or apps. I have no intention of shutting those people out.
In addition, I am thinking of adding my stories to Smashwords as another platform to sell. When that’s done, I’ll update you all. The wider I cast my net, the more likely I can cobble together a livable wage from doing what I love.
